Swollen nose & light colored scab on Pete the common Pleco

[PeteThePleco]

Woke up today to Pete's nose being swollen with a large white'ish scab(?) sore on the tip of the nose.
I've included 2 photos to show what's going on. He now lives with a goldfish that I bought as food - but he didn't eat it.

Pete is currently living in a 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub after outgrowing 2 tanks and the next step is to get a 100 gallon tank for him.
In the meantime - please, if you have any advice on what could be wrong, I appreciate your help.
I'm doing a water change now and starting melafix.
P.S. He just finished eating a zucchini for dinner over night


Thank you and Merry Christmas!

 

[goatnad]

Could be the start of cottonmouth. Does it look fluffy or like cotton growing?

 

[King Fisher]

I agree with goat. It might be worth pulling him out of the tank and cleaning his injury well with a Qtip and hydrogen peroxide.

 

[PeteThePleco]

Day 2 - the nose job on Pete

Day 2 - the nose job

Pete has had 2 doses of Melafix in the tank. I kept the filter off for an hour to let the medicine soak on him. The goldfish who was supposed to be a meal but is still living is now a tad sideways.
This photo is from this morning, that nose has gone from whitish to red! Going to try pulling him out, doing the hydroperoxide on his nose and back into the tank. Considering tetracycline?

(*a tad annoyed that all of this is happening on Christmas eve so now the chance to get more medicine waits til Wednesday! ...oh for Pete's sake!)


Thank you all for the help and cheers to you having a very Merry Christmas! (,...and healthy fish! )

 

[King Fisher]

If you are going to use medicine I'd go with this antibiotic......

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OXYTETRACY...897102?hash=item1cbeaa028e:g:EhAAAOSwqcJb1wuS

You will need a quarantine tank and don't run carbon. Add 20mg/liter as a 5 day bath. Dissolve the powder in dechlorinated water before adding it to the tank. If you have hard water then use RO water in your QT tank during treatment. Leave him in there for 5 days. If no improvement, do a 50% water change and dose again. Look for signs of distress from the antibiotic as you do another 5 day treatment.

In the meantime, I'd remove him from the tank and clean up his wound with Hydrogen peroxide. Use a wet cloth if you have to handle him.

Here's another option for an antiseptic....

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Germa-Me...vloXb9jbWKEL73ziOcSJf7og2eU_lkCwaAuVtEALw_wcB

Or any iodine based antiseptic will also work. If you use Mercurochrome, dilute it at 1:9 ratio with dechlorinated tap water or RO water.

After cleaning up the wound with antiseptic, apply Neosporin or a waterproof wound dressing.

 

[PeteThePleco]

Awesome information! Thank you

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation of what to do to help Pete heal. He changed his spotting to more of a ring pattern after I cleaned his nose with the hydrogen peroxide. I will get the antibiotic you recommended and fingers crossed that he can hang on til it arrives in holiday mail!


Thanks again!

 

[King Fisher]

No problem. Let me know how the antiseptic works out after a couple days. I forgot to add that when using an antiseptic, apply it every other day.